I have a new favourite Disney film. It was a an thrilling mix of adventure, mystery and comedy!

I was initially reluctant again to see another crazed disney film after all the hype about Tangled and Frozen; I barely cracked at the smile at the teaser skit with the sloths because I was so determined to not get sucked in.

But as it turns out: Disney has wooed me again with its charming animation and heartfelt story.

..and not to mention I’m so glad they finally represented a good friendship between a male and female lead rather than opting for than opting for romance. The different realms within Zootopia where breathtaking (my favourites were the city and jungle) and the animation was so vibrant.

I felt that I could really relate to the bunny as she grew up being told not to follow her dreams and take the safe option; that to me was doing media. (should have taken the financially secure option of accounting or business apparently) As she was repeatedly told she was too small, too optimistic and too emotional I sat at the edge of my seat thinking I CAN RELATE!

On a deeper note, I really enjoyed the subtext about humans and how we should all learn to live with our differences. There should be no more ‘us’ and ‘them’. Fear caused by a lack of empathy and understanding can be toxic in a society fuelled by expectation and reputation.

I had a lot of fun with our first video project! Although I could have prepared a lot earlier (editing it all on the day it was due) I feel that I did alright for a first go. The images and videos I included were mainly little things that I appreciate in day to day life. Such as sunsets, plant life, the city scene. I wanted to reveal some of my hobbies without explicitly saying them in a narration. As I recently transitions from highschool to uni the feeling of looniness and longing sort of came to mind. I wanted to capture this in a voicemail I left for an old friend. I tried to convey a sense of serene loneliness using shots such as the man on the beach fishing,

Something Id like to change is the voiceover; I felt that it didn’t contain enough information and felt rushed. Also I struggled with balancing the sound with the backing track. I would also remove the shots with me in it simply because they felt out of place. Due to my lack of technical skills the camera was quite shaky and I wasn’t sure how to fix it in post, so next time I’ll try to stabilise it.

Also I came across a store on my travels with a window full of clocks and wine; this represented to me how we are growing up now and more things are being introduced into my life such as our prevalent drinking culture.

I took a few ideas from project brief 1 such as the movement of water, showing my ukuleles, city views.

The water colour shots in the fishbowl were some of my favourites. I love to paint so I’

BUt next time

The brief made me realise that next time I want to try something a little different for our interview project.

Project Brief 2 from vanessa wong on Vimeo.

Haiku Exercise from vanessa wong on Vimeo.

I’ve always been jokingly told that secret to being happy is to have low expectations. Maybe there is some truth to that. After reading this article I’ve realised the dangers of blinding following ones passion in pursuit of the holy grail of dream jobs. The article states that we should exercise caution with “fantasy” as ultimately, how often can reality match up to it? I too struggle with the balancing act of being realistic and going for gold. Although at this point as an unemployed student who cannot cook I’d be very happy to land any job.

I personally agree that it isn’t helpful to aim for a very narrow “ultimate” dream job as mentioned in the article because:

1. With the onset of technology and the prevalence of media, the jobs most of us will be doing in years to come may not have even been thought of yet.
2. It makes it more difficult to appreciate what you already have.
3. No one will ever be satisfied if they keep saying “well, one day…”

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On the opposite end of the argument I’m reminded of a time I went to visit the dentist.

He asked, “So what are you doing in uni?”

I replied,”Media. It’s no dentistry course but it’s what I’ve wanted to do for ages.”

We joked about this for a while and it turns out he has seen so many people drop out and quit because they didn’t love meddling with people’s teeth enough.

He ended abruptly with a dark comment, “dentists have one of the highest suicide rates.”

So there is still the danger of throwing dreams out of the window to follow a financially sturdy career or appease one’s parents.

What intrigued me the most about Bowtell’s presentation was his comment on how people, after having a lot experience with editing, can FEEL when a cut should be made. As I’m just a beginner I find that I have to watch the whole thing from the very beginning before I can notice awkward timing or choppy editing. The clip from the film “casino” which I had seen previous to the presentation when “Sam meets Ginger” was so clever it made grin creepily. Before I hadn’t noticed how heavily the revealing of Sam’s thoughts was driven by the editing; I just simply knew he had fallen in love with ginger. Maybe thats how you can tell when film has been edited well; if you gain meaning from the clip without explicitly being told or shown.

I hadn’t noticed how media saturated my surroundings were until this exercise! My group went to the state library, and to my suprise there was advertising all around us.

Immediately we were bombarded with people handing us flyers. Some for restaurants and one I collected was for city road safety. Loud trams had huge adds for Bank of Melbourne, the sounds of the trams caught people attention and helped make the ads more obvious. Up high there was a hand spray-painted movie poster for the new “Batman vs Superman” film. The spray paint had a dramatic effect and was very eye catching.

The surrounding media has become a sort of natural habitat for us now.